


Sugar & Poison

by RandyWrites



Series: Canon Noncompliance [4]
Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 19:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17493935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandyWrites/pseuds/RandyWrites
Summary: one-shot collection, a couple tie-ins with my Titans Dark project





	1. Chapter 1

“The key will be sticking close behind, but not too close,” Rose nodded to herself before stretching her neck with a few satisfying  _pops_.

“Because that isn’t obvious,” Raven rolled her eyes, “And how will I know how close is too-”

“Just don’t go riding right on top of my ass, alright?”

“That’s not what you-”

“That’s an order. Obey,” Rose cut her off with a teasing smile. Almost impressed by how bold Raven had become.

Almost.

There was still a race to win.

“There’s a short-cut off the right! Stick close for this part!” the white-haired girl leaned forward in her seat, eyes glued to the television as bright colors and chirpy music assaulted the senses.

It wasn’t every day that Raven agreed to play MarioKart, and there was no way she was wasting the opportunity to bump up her stats.

“Just like we practiced, Rae! I left the easy cube for you!”

Raven only hummed in affirmation at Rose’s encouragements. She wasn’t absolutely sold on the game, but it was certainly a more appealing distraction compared to those combat ones that Victor and Gar had tried so hard to teach her. The controllers were more intuitive, at the very least.

She was a bit surprised that Rose hadn’t broken her own controller long ago, considering how tightly she held down the button to accelerate.

The empath knew that this wasn’t her girlfriend’s  _favorite_  game, but it was a reason why she’d grown so fond of her. Rose Wilson was willing to compromise on so many of the  _little_  things. Raven trying an easy video game meant that she’d be willing to try yoga in return. No, not meditation yet, but that was the idea of this little deal of theirs.

It was a way to ease each other into some of their interests.

They crossed the finish line within seconds of each other then, a little victory tune playing as their characters bounced around in their cars.

“I told you! You were amazing, babe!” Rose yelled as she wrapped her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. Raven dropped the controller in surprise, watching it bounce on the floor for a moment before engulfing it in her aura and bringing it back.

“Helps to have an amazing teacher,” Raven kissed her cheek back in thanks, making Rose pause before exiting out of the next match.

Raven opened her mouth to question her, only to be met with another kiss.

The question was quickly forgotten.

Not that she minded.


	2. Chapter 2

Raven slammed the file on the table in disgust. She should’ve known that Rose would take things too far, she always did. It’d been the same when they were teens, and it was the same now as they approached their 30s.

“Cass and Renee can’t find out about this,” she said to Rose’s back.

Rose had long ago commandeered the empty room to act as her study and their hub of operations. The biggest (and comfiest) desk chair was usually reserved for herself when their meetings ran a little long, although Renee was prone to taking it when running the comms from the base. The monitors before them lit the room in a gentle blue, but Raven could see in the reflection of one of the darkened monitors, the somber look upon Rose’s face.

She wasn’t all too happy with this little  _development_  either.

“I may have used poison instead of sugar,” Rose admitted after deliberation, “It’s not like he didn’t have it coming.”

Beating her fist upon the console off to her leader’s side, Raven nearly scared herself as the weight of her anger caused the machine to collapse in on itself. She always was forgetting just how strong she could be when she wasn’t careful.

“Dammit, Rose! This isn’t a game any more! You know damn well how Cass feels about this kind of thing. Renee said this needs to be done by the book! If we can’t bring Cain and Savage in the right way-”

“We’re vigilantes, Raven! There  _is_  no  _right_   _way_! But there is  _justice_.” She finally turned to face the empath. Raven could feel the other woman’s resolve steeling against her nerves, the Ravager’s emotions shutting off bit by bit as she let her logic and morally grey compass take the reigns. It was once something to be admired, but now something Raven had learned to pity over the years.

Rose Wilson had a way of shoving the most important emotions too far to the side, till one day they’d get the better of her.

“We can either wait for some corrupt system to spit them right back out into the world, or we can stop them ourselves.” Getting up out of her seat, Rose brushed past her teammate now. “What happened to  _Daddy_   _dearest_  was meant to be a  _warning_  shot. Once they step out of line- and I say  _once_  because  _they_   _will_ step across that line- then I’m not holding back. The  _team’s_  mission is complete. Mine isn’t.”

Satisfied that she had the last word on the matter, Rose left. And Raven was now alone, turning to face the monitors on each of the targets they’d been chasing for months now, finally captured.

David Cain and Vandal Savage had fought and were contained without too much trouble, each having been bested and restrained by dynamic duos working in tandem against them. They rested fitfully in their cells.

But Deathstroke was now laying nearly catatonic in their med bay, Rose’s official and only account of the event now in Raven’s hands. To do with as she saw fit.

She just couldn’t be sure what the right thing to do really was any more.


	3. Chapter 3

She wasn’t one for tears. Not unless something was absolutely wrong.

Morbid jokes, though? She’d lost track of how many times she’d made the ’ _I’ll have to cut out my other eye_ ’ one.

That was often easier than dealing with the actual feelings she’d have. It’d taken her too damn long to own up to those thoughts and feelings. To start to recognize when she was acting on them, almost against her better judgement or better will. And especially to start reigning those thoughts and feelings in.

Which is probably why she’d gotten on Raven’s nerves to start with.

’ _The absolute lack of self-control or emotional intelligence is simply staggering_ ,’ the empath had told her more than once.

Which Ravager had taken minor offense to.

She prided herself at being able to read people and situations well enough to manipulate them, after all.

But when it came to her own battles? Her inner demons? She preferred to keep those safely shoved away to be dealt with later.

Unpack, reconvene, figure out just what the hell she was actually thinking and feeling outside of the heat of a moment. It wasn’t something that came easy. But she’d been learning for the better part of the past year.

It was something that the Titans seemed to have a special talent for helping with.

But there came a point in light of recent events, however, where she’d had enough. And Raven had found her, almost magnetically, in the Tower’s weight room.

Making a victim out of yet another punching bag. Sand pouring directly onto the floor. A mess to match the anger and hurt she kept trying to push out through her fists.

The empath took a silent watch from the other side of the bag, lingering by the doorway, waiting patiently for Rose to finish.

And with each punch, each quick exhale and release, Rose only felt her anger swelling.

It wasn’t like he’d been around much anyways.

 _Bam_.

It wasn’t like he’d spent every second that he could in some twisted game of sudden interest, sudden need to get to know her.

 _Bang_.

It wasn’t like he’d ever shown that he loved and cared for her  _so damn much_.

 _Bump_.

It wasn’t like she missed him like hell even before he-

 _Thud_.

The chain broke. Bag and sand landing on the mat, kicking up the mess underneath and coating Rose as well as the equipment around her.

She felt small stings as the sand and salt crept into open wounds. And felt slender arms wrap around her waist as she began undoing the wraps on her hands.

“Despite the hell he put me and our team through,” Raven said gently, her smokey voice low in Rose’s ear as she rested her chin on the Ravager’s shoulder, “Despite all that he’d done. You’re dad was actually… a pretty decent man.”

“ _Decent men_  don’t raise  _broken daughters_ ,” Rose bit back as she tore Raven’s arms from her sides.

She spun in place, facing her girlfriend even as she felt tears beginning to prick in her eye.

“He’s never been that reckless. He’s never been that self-sacrificing. Raven, he’s-”

No! She wasn’t doing this! She wasn’t going to break down into tears and start a damn pity party over that asshole!

But those salty tears were already falling, she could feel a headache already forming between eye and eye socket. And she already felt that insatiable need to start a verbal vomit of her thoughts as amethyst eyes watched her face  _oh-so-carefully_.

The crease of her eyebrows, that full lower lip being bit gently in worry. God, Raven was beautiful when she let her guard down. When she tried to show how much she cared.

And Rose knew she needed to shut herself up before she said something she’d regret.

So she took Raven’s face in her hands and pulled her girlfriend close for a kiss. Her lips hot against the empaths, taking in the taste of black coffee and sugar. The hints of a sickly sweet breakfast that Rose had skipped when she’d gotten the news that morning.

Morning.

A morning of mourning.

What an odd thing to think about.

And all for a man that she’d been so distant from and then so close to in such a short amount of time.

She’d forget about that for now, as Raven parted her lips and invited Rose to taste more of that wonderfully sweet breakfast that she’d missed. And she gladly complied.


	4. Chapter 4

Taking a careful glance towards the open door of the cockpit where Rose and Scandal were piloting their craft, Raven breathed a sigh of relief as they appeared to continue their conversation. She couldn’t hear their soft murmurs over the muffled roar of engines outside, even with her own highly perceptive ears. Which meant neither of them would hear what she was about to share with Renee and Cassandra now.

 _Azar help them_ , if Rose found out the extent of what it would be.

“I hope you don’t misunderstand me when I say this,” she began in a low tone as the two Gothamites leaned forward to hear her. “Especially since she’s acting leader-”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Renee mumbled, rolling her eyes.

“She’s… ’ _had it rough_ ’, is what Garfield used to say, I believe.” With clasped hands, Raven began pressing her thumbs against one another as she deliberated another moment. “You’ve already seen. She’s crass, a bit unpredictable, and some even go so far as to say  _unstable_ -”

“Really not helping your case so far, kid.”

“- _But_ ,” Raven glared at the detective as she continued, “I can promise you, she more than proved herself when she started as a Titan all those years ago. Anything in her personal life… She’s learned how to set it aside for the sake of the mission.”

The empath sighed as she finally unclasped her hands to grip one of her elbows. An old wound from a mission that seemed a million years in the past now. One that had been too close of a call. It was also an old wound that had marked the beginning of the end of her relationship with the Terminator’s daughter.

“She took a lot of hits to learn that lesson.”

“So that speech she made before ’ _recruitment_ ’… I’m supposed to believe it was just as much for  _herself_ as for us?” Renee began shaking her head incredulously. “I find that rather hard to believe. It’s no secret how  _promiscuous_ -”

“She uses boys like bandages,” Raven defended quickly, “But the wounds remain the same… She’s taking her time to heal whatever she thinks others can help her fix. I’m sure you understand… Not all things heal overnight. Especially when it comes to family.”

The Question turned her face from the empath as she leaned back in her seat, suddenly much more interested in the clouds they were passing through as Scandal took them up to a cruising altitude. Rose’s rolling laughter could be heard as the two pilots shared a joke. Raven smiled at how infectious their good moods were.

“Boys weren’t… the  _only_  bandages she used,” Cassandra observed. And Raven was left with a red face as Renee barked with her own laughter.

She threw a glare at the Bat as she smiled knowingly back. “ _I’m over_ -”

Cut off by a jolt, Raven never had a chance to finish defending herself as their plane began to take a dive.


End file.
